Reports are suggesting that Cesc Fabregas could be stripped of the Arsenal captaincy if he remains at the Emirates next season.
The Gunners recently rejected Barca’s first bid of £27 million for the 24-year-old Spaniard, but it is believed that Fabregas could leave the Emirates if the La Liga giants come back with an offer of around £35 million.
However, it is understood that Barcelona president Sandro Rosell may not meet Arsenal’s asking price for the midfielder, thus forcing Fabregas to remain a gunner for at least another year.
If this does ensue, then the Spaniard could well lose the armband to Dutch striker Robin van Persie or Belgian centre-back Thomas Vermaelen.
An Emirates source stated:
‘Cesc conducts himself with total professionalism in everything he does for Arsenal, but with all that has gone on there is a school of thought that he might not be the ideal candidate to remain as captain.’
‘Both Robin and Thomas have leadership attributes and the armband could well end up with one of them.’
Fabregas was appointed club captain back in 2008, taking over from William Gallas, and is understood to be ‘desperate’ to rejoin his boyhood club, despite being contracted to Arsenal until 2015.
The Spaniard will now have to wait anxiously to see if the two clubs can agree a deal in the upcoming weeks.
I, like many out there, don’t believe that Fabregas is a captain figure, a great player, but not of captain material. I’ll give credit to the guy and commend him for his efforts as he was very young when he was given the armband, but I believe Wenger should’ve never appointed him captain in the first place.
After once again expressing a desire to move back to Barcelona this summer, I strongly believe that it would be a mockery to see Fabregas, a player who clearly wants out, lead our boys out next season – it would send out the wrong message in my book.
If Fabregas does stay, then Wenger will have to replace him as captain, someone who bleeds Arsenal and is willing to give their all to the club
Although I believe Vermaelen would make a better captain (purely for his position), I believe it would be totally unfair to overlook the new Mr. Arsenal (in my opinion anyway) Robin van Persie, who has been with the club since 2004, and is obviously committed to the cause.
One thing is for certain, Fabregas must be stripped of captaincy if he remains an Arsenal – nothing personal Cesc.
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at the end of the day the transfer deadline he will go..
If Fabregas does not leave this year it will be next. We need a captain to be established over a decent period to give stability to the side.
Van Persie is a dedicated man is only problem is he is injury prone, but the same might be said of Vermaelen. Purely from a positional point of view (i.e. centre back) I`m going to plug for Vermealen, he can get a better appreciation of the game from where he is.
He should be sold this season and we can’t get any worse. We can use the money to improve the squad. Then we won’t need to strip him the captaincy